Structured interviews were used to gather information on the commercial requirements and value of SAR data from about 2005 for the global sample of market sectors using cartographic information and spatial statistics. The results show the relative importance of major application areas as commercial prospects. The annual market projection for the period around 2005 using as yet an incomplete global sample is for over 20,000 scenes with a value of the order of $75 million. The most significant markets are expected to be for topographic maps, oceans and ice and agriculture. However, SAR is unlikely to be the sole source of information for any application but will be incorporated with other data as available. The results of the interviews have been used to define customer requirements on the ground segment, which showed that commercial partnership in the mission operations was essential. A hierarchial market model was developed to support the sampling strategy and to relate customer requirements to the SAR design. The work has established a baseline of information on which to plan a commercial SAR mission in the next century.